The Rise of Serverless Architecture: A Game-Changer for Frontend Developers
In recent years, the way frontend developers build web applications has undergone a significant transformation. Gone are the days when managing servers was a prerequisite for building and shipping an application. Today, serverless architecture has taken center stage, revolutionizing the way we approach application development.
The Contact Form Conundrum
Let’s consider a simple example: building a contact form on a portfolio site. Traditionally, you would create an API that connects to your preferred mail service provider and then set up a server to run the API. While this approach is valid, it’s often cost-ineffective and wasteful of server resources, especially for low-traffic sites. This is where serverless architecture comes into play.
What is Serverless, Anyway?
Serverless doesn’t mean there’s no server involved; it simply means that you’re leveraging a third-party service to manage and set up servers, allowing you to focus on writing autonomous functions. These functions, known as serverless functions, are only executed when there’s a request, and you’re only charged for the resources used during that period.
Building a Serverless Contact Form with Nuxt.js and Netlify Functions
To demonstrate the power of serverless functions, we’ll build a contact form using Nuxt.js and Netlify Functions. Our demo application will showcase how to create a seamless user experience while leveraging the benefits of serverless architecture.
Getting Started with Nuxt.js
First, we’ll create a new Nuxt.js application and select Chakra UI as our UI framework. We’ll also choose Axios as our Nuxt.js module. Once the application is set up, we’ll update the index.vue file to include our contact form.
Creating the Contact Form
Our contact form will consist of three fields: name, email, and message. When the form is submitted, we’ll call a sendContactToLambdaFunction() that handles sending the message. We’ll also update the script section to make an API request to our Netlify function.
Introducing Netlify Functions
Netlify Functions provide a convenient way to deploy serverless Lambda functions without an AWS account. With Netlify, you can test your serverless functions locally using Netlify Dev. We’ll create a netlify.toml file to configure our project and then run a command to create our Netlify function.
Setting Up Mailgun
To handle email sending, we’ll use Mailgun, which provides a sandbox domain for testing. We’ll install the necessary dependencies, including dotenv and mailgun-js, and create an .env file to store our environment variables.
The Contact-Mail Function
Our contact-mail.js function will handle the logic for sending emails. We’ll validate incoming requests, construct the email body, and pass it to Mailgun’s messages.send() method. Finally, we’ll return error or success messages from Mailgun.
Testing and Deployment
We’ll test our application using Netlify Dev and then deploy it to Netlify. We’ll add environmental variables on Netlify and redeploy the app for the changes to take effect.
The Benefits of Serverless Architecture
In this tutorial, we’ve explored the benefits of serverless architecture, including cost-effectiveness, scalability, and ease of deployment. By leveraging Netlify Functions and Nuxt.js, we’ve created a seamless user experience while minimizing server resources. To learn more, check out the official Netlify Functions docs and explore the source code for this project on GitHub.